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I wanted to list some products I especially used, or even discovered in 2014. I picked up the rarest, most strange/exotic, or simply very useful raw materials, synthetics or naturals.

Cassie absolute (Acacia farnesiana): the key ingredient in a true-to-nature leather accord. Extremely powerful. Smells green, foliage (with hints of cabbage on topnotes), then it dries down on a powdery, dry, acidic, fatty hearth. Reminiscent of tanned leather. It is quite difficult to dose as the material has tendency to give off unpleasant topnotes (my personal opinion), difficult to mask in a simple composition.

Musk Z4 (IFF): the same molecule as Exaltenone (Firmenich), but slightly more animalic, less sandalwoody, more close to Exaltone, with its metallic, extremely fine powdery facets. Quite powerful, more than Exaltone. Interesting to note that Musk Z4 solidifies at room temp (20° C), while Exaltenone is in the liquid state.

Muskrat glands: in the 60s Arctander explained how this material was suggested as a musk deer replacer during WW II in the USA, but lacked the power of the original product. I wanted to try out this one and ordered some from a Russian supplier. Well, it doesn’t resemble musk deer in any way that could encourage its use as a replacer. It lacks the civet-like, animalic, skatolic notes found in the more prized material. It lacks its fine, well rounded, rich, powdery body. It smells less dirty, more fleshy, quite unpleasantly fatty and dry. It is more sebum-like. I am planning another order and I would like to suggest a different drying method.
Muskrat glands are said to contain Exaltone (a molecule very close to muscone). I am not so sure to smell it in my product, but I can guess it is there.

Nitromusks are sometimes defined as “animal”. While I quite agree on the fact that they possess a musk deer facet (they are warm and powdery, but also radiant, with some musky floralness) they don’t possess a truely dirty, greasy character.

Exaltone strikes with its greasy, warm animal musky odour.

@10% it is less dirty, more nuanced, somewhat metallic and much more similar to his brother muscone, or to exaltolide.

@1% finer. Best dilution. Every facet blooms and one can fully appreciate its elegant details: quite powdery, sort of ‘metallic’ (in a way that it recalls me of exaltolide), but still quite greasy and softly animal.

It is quite pricey, but is worth its weight in gold. I definitely love this molecule. And actually it costs about 3 times more than muscone (about the price of a jasmine absolute). This is the most astounding musk odourant I’ve ever smelled.

It was first synthesized in the 20’s (1926 patent, Chuit & Naef, Firmenich today) by L. Ruzicka, in an attempt to find a good substitute for natural musk. Exaltone is chemically very close to muscone; it only has one methyl function less.

In the 1927 “Notice sur l’Exaltone et autres produits à odoeur de musc”, it is explained why the name ‘Exaltone’ was chosen:

Exaltone is capable of ‘exalting’ a composition and this property seemed to make this product a valuable candidate for replacing natural musk.

Reading this booklet one could get the feeling that natural musk extracts were not much prized for their “animal” odour, they would also have introduced unwanted, ammoniacal, rotting notes. The interest was in the smoothing, exalting effect coming from their musky odourants (such as muscone or civettone). A feeling that I also get when working with civet. However I am convinced that animal, greasy, dirty notes are sometimes really wanted and synthetical musks wouldn’t suffice alone (I am thinking about cuir, leather fragrances, or old chypres).

Muscone and Exaltone seem at first quite different products, olfactively. The odour of muscone when pure is almost difficult to perceive (as many other musks). Exaltone, on the other hand, is a solid at room temperature and its odour when smelled pure is strongly musky, animal and greasy and quite powerful.

However, upon dilution the differences are smoothed down. They are quite similar, indeed. Muscone is rounder and, obviously, more true-to-nature. Exaltone, very similar to muscone, powdery, musky, rather sweet, has darker tones, a greasy accent and nice projection.

Interesting enough, Exaltone was eventually found in nature in the muskrat glands.